Graffiti going down
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...iti-going-down
Efforts by the Hamilton Police to combat graffiti are paying off. There is a marked decrease in the number of graffiti occurrences this year as compared to the last two years.
From January to May 2011, the number of graffiti incidents fell by 29 per cent to 129 from 182 last year during the same time period. This is also less than half the number of incidents reported in 2009 when there were 270 occurrences of graffiti from January to May.
As well, during the first five months of 2011, 14 per cent of police reported graffiti occurrences were cleared by alternative measures rather than by laying charges. This clearance rate is also marginally better than previous years. Alternative measures include verbal counselling, meeting with parents, or making the offenders write essays or participate in community service.